With the new European season already underway, its sad to see that there are very few Australians starting for big clubs across the top leagues around the world, which is alarming for football in this country going forward.

When Romelu Lukaku shockingly turned down the chance to reunite with his old club and move to the red half of Manchester, Chelsea fans were left to wonder if they would ever find the right player to replace outgoing striker Diego Costa.

Because if we're struggling to qualify for this World Cup, then we'll struggle in the future with a lot of Asian countries significantly improving, and it comes to the quality being produced.
The gap between the A-league and the NPL is too big and so very few youngsters get the chance to develop. The NSL was bringing up the likes of Bresciano, Cahill, Grella, Emerton etc etc. as their was no pressure. A-league is more of a results based business so coaches can't rely much on youth